ANNOUNCING THE WOMAN OF THE MONTH

Meet April’s Fort Worth Woman! Jennifer Flippo is a native Houstonian who has perfected the art of mixing time management (you’ll learn quickly she is a woman of many hats), child advocacy, and medicine.  She is motivated by social justice, exploring social determinants of health, and knocking down barriers for children. Growing up, she lived in a combination of places (including Canada and England) before landing her school years in Houston. To this day, Jennifer and her family escape the Texas heat each summer by visiting their family cabin in British Columbia, Canada.

Jennifer is a proud Texas A&M Aggie where she graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology. She met her husband in undergrad and moved to Dallas shortly after graduation to attend nursing school at Texas Woman’s University. The two have now been married for twenty-six years. Sixteen years ago, the couple built a house in Saginaw on a family ranch that used to be her husband’s grandfather’s dairy farm. “We run longhorn cattle on the property now, which is tough for two Aggies!”, she jokes and they are also currently working on renovating their 1970 Airstream, “Hazel”. Their two sons live here in Texas and her husband is currently the Mayor of Saginaw, proudly serving the community he grew up in. Jennifer states, “I am proud of his political drive and the changes he has been a part of in our small community that shares a border with Fort Worth”.

Do not let their home address make you think they are not local. This dynamic couple, despite their hectic schedules professionally, are also part of the investment group for Funky Picnic Brewery and Café, a majority women-owned craft brewery here in Fort Worth’s Near Southside. Jennifer explains, “You’ll find us there at least once a week trying a new release from the brew master and I teach yoga there one Saturday a month.”

Now for the ‘many hats’ mentioned above. Jennifer has literally mastered nursing, so much so that she is a doctor of nursing. Since 2000, Jennifer not only received her Master’s Degree in Nursing from the University of Texas at Arlington, but she has also been a Nurse Practitioner ever since. In 2019 she received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice, also from UTA. “My doctoral project studied the improvement of providers’ word choice when dealing with adolescents and their weight concerns, “ she states. Her heart, mission, and purpose shine through her academic goals and it’s no wonder she is where she is today. Since 2019 Jennifer has both taught and lectured on a variety of topics concerning child health topics at the Harris College of Nursing at Texas Christian University as well as created her own consulting business where she works part-time in a private pediatric practice, Child Health Strategies. Her job is to connect with childcare providers, agencies, and schools to find out what they need to better support the children they serve and how she can use her ‘kid-focused’ brain to get it for them.

Jennifer explains, “I started Child Health Strategies in 2019 after noticing some requests from parents in my practice. For example, parents told me their daycare centers and schools required “doctors’ notes” and also excluded children from attendance for things that were not typically deemed exclusionary by medical professionals. After observing a child care center whose staff and students lacked diversity with respect to children of color and socio-economic class, my continuing education course in diversity and inclusion was born! I completed my Child Care Health Consultant certification in 2020 through Healthy Child Care Texas (a state agency that provides support and training for out-of-home child care programs).” Jennifer is a believer that the health outcomes for children are mediated by the conditions in their environment. Essentially where they live, play, and learn impact their opportunities to thrive.

When asked about a ‘day in the life’ of her supportive practice for local families, Jennifer described a culmination of skills. “My day might include a discussion with a five-year-old patient comparing the strengths of the Disney princesses while we check out her sore throat, hitting up my state legislators with facts and pleas for better access for children and families, and rounding it out by googling how to repair a barbed wire fence that the cattle pushed over at home,” Jennifer states. Her days already have mine outmatched.

Each of her hats have their own skill but once taken down to the basics, Jennifer is a Pediatric Primary Care Mental Health Specialist in which she is advanced in her skills of caring for the mental and behavioral health of children and adolescents. Jennifer explains “I see children in my private practice with a variety of developmental and behavioral health needs and I am grateful to be able to provide management of those diagnoses” for both the children and their families.

Alongside her passion to support families and invest local, Jennifer also spends her time supporting our community. Newest to date, Jennifer is hosting a podcast, “Jenn the Doctor Nurse” that will launch later this month. She is also a sustaining member of the Junior League of Fort Worth, she is the President of the Board of Directors at Community Link (a food pantry in Saginaw that serves seven zip codes over 178 square miles), operates a Farmer’s Market in Saginaw from March-November, writes for the Northwest Sun (an online newspaper serving north Tarrant County), and is a member of the Women’s Policy Forum in Fort Worth where she has been able to meet other leading women in our city to learn about ways women can both shape and influence policy.

When asked about what she loves about Fort Worth, Jennifer mentioned the diverse and welcoming community as well as it’s legitimate western flair, not just as a tourist attraction, but as a way of living. Her description of our city was all too fitting as she described not only the big city/small town vibe but when she used the words ,”it’s denim and diamonds with a dusty welcome mat.” She states, “we have much to offer our future co-workers, neighbors, and rodeo patrons!” Jennifer and her family are naturally big fans of the Near Southside given their involvement with Funky Picnic as well as investments in other rental properties in the area. She describes, “the community of love that Near Southside has shown during the pandemic would make anyone proud to be a part of its growth and neighborhood fellowship.”

When asked about her one-word to describe her impact as a business woman on her city she and I both found ourselves stumped. How can you take all that this woman does down to one word? “Child-centered” is what she gave me in the end and it’s beyond fitting as it’s how she looks at everything around her.  Jennifer uses her education, skill sets, natural gut instinct, and passion to guide childcare providers, agencies, and schools in a way that better serves all children. Given that she is typically the answer where there is a question, the term ‘superhero’ would also work here, but Jenn is as humble as she is talented.

To contact Jennifer directly, e-mail drflippoPNP@childhealthstrategies.com, visit her on Instagram @childhealthstrategies or click on www.childhealthstrategies.com.